Thursday's paper brought news that Ramirez was asking for "cash" donations to throw a holiday party — and then refusing to say who gave the money (lawyers? vendors?) or document what he did with it.

Um, you can't do that.

This comes on the heels of Ramirez making other troubling news with office turmoil, a state investigation and big promotions and fat raises for his son's girlfriend.

Ramirez, a Democrat, is a veritable bad-news buffet, serving different entrees every few weeks.

But what once looked like naive bumbling is increasingly looking seriously troubling.

The strange thing is that most of this mess is so easily avoidable. As I often tell politicians, the secret of job security is simple: Just do your job.

Don't play games with public records. Don't reward buddies with taxpayer-financed perks. Don't go asking companies for cash donations in exchange for in-office promotion.

Just do your job, and you, too, can clear Florida's ridiculously low bar.

Whale of a week

It's been an interesting week for SeaWorld.

In court, the theme park's attorneys argued that having trainers splash around in the tanks with killer whales was "essential" to the park's success and "the primary reason" people come to SeaWorld. The next day, the park posted record profits — after a quarter where no in-water interaction had been allowed.

This is actually good news for SeaWorld, because the park's days of treating whales like show ponies are winding down.

It's not just that the park doesn't need these old-style shows to make money (which it apparently doesn't). It's that the park doesn't need the bad publicity it continues to endure for the way it treats animals and workers.

Think about the past few months. While Disney made news for Star Wars and Fantasyland, and Universal made news for Harry Potter and Transformers, SeaWorld made headlines for Antarctica and bloody footage from the "Blackfish" documentary ... and a fight over captured beluga whales ... and a dead trainer.

These are not the stuff of childhood dreams — not the stories that make Joe and Jane Tourist want to stuff their kids in the minivan and make the road trip down from Roanoke, Va.

SeaWorld has already begun the evolution from zoo to amusement park. These court cases, headlines and recent profit statements simply show that evolution will continue.

Expressway to nonsense

If it's a week with seven days in it, there's a good chance there's more nonsense brewing at the Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority.

The latest news is that the board (currently under investigation for the way it ousted its executive director) may now hire a replacement in violation of its own hiring guidelines.

See, the guidelines say the next director should have eight years experience running a toll agency.

But some on the board are smitten with their political pal, State Rep. Steve Precourt, R-Orlando, a civil transportation engineer who is eight years short of the eight-year requirement.

A heckuva recruiting mantra they have there. No experience? No problem!

Listen, it might make some sense to loosen the resume requirements a bit. Precourt, after all, isn't the only finalist who doesn't meet them. But change the rules so you can recruit a rock star CEO or road guru with some kind of record running an agency like this. Not for another run-of-the-mill politician, which is the last thing this scandal-plagued agency needs.